October 17, 2026
French President Emmanuel Macron has reservations about a new Ukrainian request for tens of billions of euros, stressing the need to exhaust previously agreed-upon funds before moving to any additional support package.
The French position came in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demand to provide Kiev with additional financing worth 70 billion euros during 2027.
“We are considering all additional requests, and before moving forward, everything that has already been agreed must first be exhausted,” Macron told reporters, on the sidelines of the European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels. He pointed out that European countries approved a plan to support Ukraine for the years 2026 and 2027 worth 90 billion euros, stressing the importance of delivering this money to Kiev as quickly as possible.
The French President pointed out that Ukraine is facing additional pressures resulting from the difficulties facing the export of its agricultural products, stressing that the G7 countries and European countries will study additional funding requests, but he considered that it is still too early to determine the value of any new support.
For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed that Ukraine’s external financing needs for the year 2027 are estimated at about 70 billion euros, explaining that the European Union will cover 45 billion of them within the second batch of the aid program worth 90 billion euros, while the Commission hopes to secure the remaining amount of 25 billion euros with the contribution of partners from outside the Union.
Von der Leyen warned of the difficulty of accurately determining Kiev’s financial needs in light of the ongoing war, while European Council President Antonio Costa acknowledged that the Union leaders did not agree during the summit on new sources or mechanisms for financing Ukraine.
The summit concluded by assigning the European Commission to study additional options to expand financing for Kiev, with the issue to be discussed again during the next European Union summit at the end of the year.
